Welcome back to Ad Watch, our newest special series, which is running weekly from now until election week. The purpose of this series is to attempt to catalog, or index, the many campaign ads that are going up on television (and sometimes radio) to influence elections in the Pacific Northwest. In each installment, we’ll briefly describe ads we’ve seen that are being paid for by candidates, ballot measure coalitions, political parties, or shadowy special interests masquerading as grassroots groups, and provide links so you can watch the ads for yourself.

This week in Ad Watch:

Obama/Biden 2012 has quietly released a brutal new ad entitled My Job that consists solely of audio extracted from the video Mother Jones released of Mitt Romney speaking at a fundraiser for high-roller donors back in May. As Romney dismisses the “forty-seven percent”, images are shown of families, veterans, and working men and women with somber or quiet expressions. “I’ll never convince them to take personal responsibility and care for their lives,” Romney says as the ad ends. The ad is similar to a spot Obama/Biden produced back in the summer, titled Firms.

Another Obama/Biden ad released this week is called Table. It’s long – it clocks in at two minutes – and its star is the president himself, discussing his fairly modest goals for a second term. It is reportedly set to run in battleground states, but it may also be seen on cable channels here.

Rob McKenna’s newest TV spot (We Need Jobs) is quite possibly the weakest ad his campaign has released so far. It awkwardly and unconvincingly claims Jay Inslee stands for “more government, more taxes, and more lost jobs” … without even bothering to level any specific charges against Inslee.

Neither Maria Cantwell nor Michael Baumgartner’s campaigns have unveiled new ads since the summer. Perhaps they’re keeping their power dry until October – though if you ask us, that doesn’t make too much sense, because the airwaves are only getting nosier and more crowded.

This entry was written by Andrew and posted on September 26th, 2012 at 10:33 PM. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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The Cascadia Advocate is authored by the staff, board, and contributors of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a netroots powered strategy center working to raise America's quality of life through innovative research and imaginative advocacy.

Our city thrives because we have welcomed and embraced diversity. And RFRA threatens what thousands of people have spent decades building. Discrimination is wrong. And I hope that message is being heard loud and clear at our Statehouse.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And so yes or no, if a florist in Indiana refuses to serve a gay couple at their wedding, is that legal now in Indiana?

MIKE PENCE: George, this is -- this is where this debate has gone, with -- with misinformation and frankly...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: It's just a question, sir. Yes or no?

MIKE PENCE: Well -- well, this -- there's been shameless rhetoric about my state and about this law and about its intention all over the Internet. People are trying to make it about one particular issue. And now you're doing that, as well. The issue here -- The Religious Freedom Restoration Act has been on the books for more than 20 years. It does not apply, George, to disputes between individuals unless government action is involved. And in point of fact, in more than two decades, The Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never been used to undermine anti-discrimination laws in this country.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Sir, I'm...

(CROSSTALK)

MIKE PENCE: Look, the...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: -- I'm just bringing up a...

MIKE PENCE: -- the question...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: -- (INAUDIBLE) from one of your supporters.

MIKE PENCE: -- I think the real question here...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: That was one of our supporters who was talking about the bill right there. It said it would protect a Christian florist who -- against any kind of punishment. Is that true or not?

Several major Wall Street banks are openly threatening to withhold campaign contributions from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee (SDCC) and individual Democratic senators, hoping to stop senators from talking about breaking them up. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, their chief critic, is having none of it. She says she will not be intimidated and has no intention of letting the banks off the hook.

The measure codifies hatred under the smoke screen of freedom and jeopardizes all that has been recently accomplished,… It legalizes discrimination against LGBT individuals and will cause significant harm to many people.

Big congratulations are in order to tonight Gonzaga University’s men’s basketball team, which defeated UCLA 74-62 to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament for just the second time in school history.

The Zags will take on the winner of the Utah-Duke game on Sunday for the chance to earn a Final Four berth, something the team has never done before.

If Gonzaga wins just two more games, it will be playing for the national championship on Monday, April 6th. That would be a pretty big deal.

Gonzaga has only lost two games this season. Its 2015 squad is considered among the best in school history and certainly has a decent shot at making the Final Four.

Top-seeded Duke, which is predicted to win over Utah, would be a tough opponent, but hardly an unbeatable one.

In defeating UCLA, the Zags avenged a painful loss inflicted by the Bruins in 2006, which cost the team an Elite Eight berth that year.

Other Elite Eight matchups include Wisconsin vs. Arizona and Kentucky vs. Notre Dame. Louisville will be taking on either Oklahoma or Michigan State.

However, ESPN’s Jay Williams, himself a Duke alum, has Gonzaga as one of his picks all the way through to the Final Four. He predicts a Top Two matchup between Arizona and Gonzaga, with Arizona winning. Williams’ bracket is outperforming Obama’s, Nadella’s, and the Bing Official bracket by a substantial margin.